IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v233y2025ics0921800925000461.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Raising environmental awareness with augmented reality

Author

Listed:
  • Attanasi, Giuseppe
  • Buljat Raymond, Barbara
  • Festré, Agnès
  • Guido, Andrea

Abstract

Individuals are often poorly informed about the environmental consequences of their actions. Informational campaigns are a widely used policy tool to address imperfect information. However, previous research suggests that simply providing information may be ineffective and fail to engage individuals. We investigate whether augmented reality (AR) can reduce psychological distance and promote pro-environmental behavior. In two incentivized experiments (laboratory and contextualized), we evaluate the effect of AR visualizations of marine plastic-pollution consequences on participants’ psychological distance and donations to pro-environmental organizations. These measures are complemented by self-reported environmental concern, pro-environmental engagement, intention to act, and prior experience with AR technology. Our results show no significant impact of AR visualizations on psychological distance or donation levels in either the AR-Lab or AR-Context settings. Consistent with these behavioral findings, we observe no significant differences across experimental conditions in self-reported measures. Interestingly, we document a general optimism regarding the effectiveness of immersive technologies as policy tools, highlighting a potential misalignment between public expectations and the actual effectiveness of these technologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Attanasi, Giuseppe & Buljat Raymond, Barbara & Festré, Agnès & Guido, Andrea, 2025. "Raising environmental awareness with augmented reality," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:233:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925000461
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108563
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800925000461
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108563?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ben Greiner, 2015. "Subject pool recruitment procedures: organizing experiments with ORSEE," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 1(1), pages 114-125, July.
    2. Innocenti, Alessandro, 2017. "Virtual reality experiments in economics," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 71-77.
    3. Antoine Dechezleprêtre & Adrien Fabre & Tobias Kruse & Bluebery Planterose & Ana Sanchez Chico & Stefanie Stantcheva, 2025. "Fighting Climate Change: International Attitudes toward Climate Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(4), pages 1258-1300, April.
    4. Yétindranathsingh Dhunnoo & Adrian Carter & Daniel O’Hare & James Birt & Martin Skitmore, 2023. "Improving Climate Change Awareness through Immersive Virtual Reality Communication: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-14, August.
    5. Charness, Gary & Gneezy, Uri & Halladay, Brianna, 2016. "Experimental methods: Pay one or pay all," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 131(PA), pages 141-150.
    6. Fredrik Carlsson & Christina Gravert & Olof Johansson-Stenman & Verena Kurz, 2021. "The Use of Green Nudges as an Environmental Policy Instrument," Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(2), pages 216-237.
    7. Tisserand, Jean-Christian & Hopfensitz, Astrid & Blondel, Serge & Loheac, Youenn & Mantilla, César & Mateu, Guillermo & Rosaz, Julie & Rozan, Anne & Willinger, Marc & Sutan, Angela, 2022. "Management of common pool resources in a nation-wide experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    8. Xavier Gabaix & David Laibson, 2018. "Shrouded attributes, consumer myopia and information suppression in competitive markets," Chapters, in: Victor J. Tremblay & Elizabeth Schroeder & Carol Horton Tremblay (ed.), Handbook of Behavioral Industrial Organization, chapter 3, pages 40-74, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Andor, Mark A. & Gerster, Andreas & Peters, Jörg, 2022. "Information campaigns for residential energy conservation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Lisette Ibanez & Sébastien Roussel, 2022. "The impact of nature video exposure on pro-environmental behavior: An experimental investigation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(11), pages 1-24, November.
    11. Fiore, Stephen M. & Harrison, Glenn W. & Hughes, Charles E. & Rutstrm, E. Elisabet, 2009. "Virtual experiments and environmental policy," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 57(1), pages 65-86, January.
    12. repec:cup:judgdm:v:17:y:2022:i:1:p:189-214 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Mol, Jantsje M. & Botzen, W. J. Wouter & Blasch, Julia E., 2022. "After the virtual flood: Risk perceptions and flood preparedness after virtual reality risk communication," Judgment and Decision Making, Cambridge University Press, vol. 17(1), pages 189-214, January.
    14. Barbara Buljat, 2022. "Environmental policy and immersive technologies," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 6(S1), pages 41-47, July.
    15. Carpenter, Jeffrey & Matthews, Peter Hans, 2017. "Using raffles to fund public goods: Lessons from a field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 30-38.
    16. Abate, Tenaw G. & Börger, Tobias & Aanesen, Margrethe & Falk-Andersson, Jannike & Wyles, Kayleigh J. & Beaumont, Nicola, 2020. "Valuation of marine plastic pollution in the European Arctic: Applying an integrated choice and latent variable model to contingent valuation," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    17. Alexa Spence & Wouter Poortinga & Nick Pidgeon, 2012. "The Psychological Distance of Climate Change," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 32(6), pages 957-972, June.
    18. Chelsea M. Rochman & Mark Anthony Browne & Benjamin S. Halpern & Brian T. Hentschel & Eunha Hoh & Hrissi K. Karapanagioti & Lorena M. Rios-Mendoza & Hideshige Takada & Swee Teh & Richard C. Thompson, 2013. "Classify plastic waste as hazardous," Nature, Nature, vol. 494(7436), pages 169-171, February.
    19. Faralla, Valeria & Innocenti, Alessandro & Baraldi, Stefano & Ermini, Sara & Lusuardi, Luca & Masini, Maurizio & Santalucia, Vincenzo & Scaruffi, Diletta & Sirizzotti, Matteo, 2024. "Exposure to immersive virtual environments decreases present bias," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    20. Laura Thompson Osuri, 2010. "Charities warm to climate," Nature, Nature, vol. 464(7290), pages 821-821, April.
    21. Bateman, Ian J. & Day, Brett H. & Jones, Andrew P. & Jude, Simon, 2009. "Reducing gain-loss asymmetry: A virtual reality choice experiment valuing land use change," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 106-118, July.
    22. Saurabh Bhargava & George Loewenstein, 2015. "Behavioral Economics and Public Policy 102: Beyond Nudging," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 396-401, May.
    23. Achilleas Vassilopoulos & Lydia Papadaki & Phoebe Koundouri, 2023. "Can virtual reality nudge toward green investing? An experiment with small business entrepreneurs," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 16(2), pages 322-340, August.
    24. Khedr, Salma & Rehdanz, Katrin & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter & Dijkstra, Hanna & Duijndam, Sem & Okoli, Ikechukwu C., 2023. "Public preferences for marine plastic litter management across Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(PA).
    25. Jantsje M. Mol & W. J. Wouter Botzen & Julia E. Blasch, 2022. "After the virtual flood: Risk perceptions and flood preparedness after virtual reality risk communication," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 17(1), pages 189-214, January.
    26. Diogo Veríssimo & Hamish A Campbell & Simon Tollington & Douglas C MacMillan & Robert J Smith, 2018. "Why do people donate to conservation? Insights from a ‘real world’ campaign," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, January.
    27. Venkatachalam, L., 2008. "Behavioral economics for environmental policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 640-645, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lesman Ghazaryan & Corinne Faure & Joachim Schleich & Mia M. Birau, 2025. "Transition from a fixed fee to a pay-as-you-throw waste tariff scheme : Effectiveness of environmental and accountability appeals," Post-Print hal-05083048, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giuseppe Attanasi & Barbara Buljat Raymond & Agnès Festré & Andrea Guido, 2023. "Augmented Reality Technology as a Tool for Promoting Pro-environmental Behavior and Attitudes," GREDEG Working Papers 2023-15, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    2. Mol, Jantsje M., 2019. "Goggles in the lab: Economic experiments in immersive virtual environments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 155-164.
    3. Luzzati, Tommaso & Baraldi, Stefano & Ermini, Sara & Faita, Claudia & Faralla, Valeria & Guarnieri, Pietro & Lusuardi, Luca & Santalucia, Vincenzo & Scipioni, Sara & Sirizzotti, Matteo & Innocenti, Al, 2025. "Can improving climate change perception lead to more environmentally friendly choices? Evidence from an immersive virtual environment experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 229(C).
    4. Gürerk, Özgür & Bönsch, Andrea & Kittsteiner, Thomas & Staffeldt, Andreas, 2019. "Virtual humans as co-workers: A novel methodology to study peer effects," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 17-29.
    5. Di Fang & Rodolfo M. Nayga & Grant H. West & Claudia Bazzani & Wei Yang & Benjamin C. Lok & Charles E. Levy & Heather A. Snell, 2021. "On the Use of Virtual Reality in Mitigating Hypothetical Bias in Choice Experiments," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 103(1), pages 142-161, January.
    6. Halko, Marja-Liisa & Lappalainen, Olli & Sääksvuori, Lauri, 2021. "Do non-choice data reveal economic preferences? Evidence from biometric data and compensation-scheme choice," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 87-104.
    7. Janet Hua Jiang & Peter Norman & Daniela Puzzello & Bruno Sultanum & Randall Wright, 2024. "Is Money Essential? An Experimental Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(9), pages 2972-2998.
    8. Werthschulte, Madeline, 2023. "Present focus and billing systems: Testing ‘pay-as-you-go’ vs. ‘pay-later’," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 108-121.
    9. Sousa, Yannick Ferreira De & Munro, Alistair, 2012. "Truck, barter and exchange versus the endowment effect: Virtual field experiments in an online game environment," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 482-493.
    10. Fabio Galeotti & Maria Montero & Anders Poulsen, 2022. "The Attraction and Compromise Effects in Bargaining: Experimental Evidence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(4), pages 2987-3007, April.
    11. Sausgruber, Rupert & Sonntag, Axel & Tyran, Jean-Robert, 2021. "Disincentives from redistribution: evidence on a dividend of democracy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    12. Dimant, Eugen, 2015. "On Peer Effects: Behavioral Contagion of (Un)Ethical Behavior and the Role of Social Identity," MPRA Paper 68732, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Sheth, Jesal D., 2021. "Disclosure of information under competition: An experimental study," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 158-180.
    14. Orland, Andreas & Rostam-Afschar, Davud, 2021. "Flexible work arrangements and precautionary behavior: Theory and experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 442-481.
    15. Rustam Romaniuc & Andrea Guido & Pierre Baudry & Cécile Bazart & Loïc Berger & Noémi Berlin & Aurélie Bonein & Imen Bouhlel & Kene Boun My & Michela Chessa & Paolo Crosetto & Etienne Dagorn & Quentin , 2024. "The limits of behavioral nudges to increase youth turnout: Experimental evidence from two French elections," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-04677596, HAL.
    16. Vladimír Novák & Andrei Matveenko & Silvio Ravaioli, 2024. "The Status Quo and Belief Polarization of Inattentive Agents: Theory and Experiment," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(4), pages 1-39, November.
    17. Grohmann, Antonia & Menkhoff, Lukas & Merkle, Christoph & Schmacker, Renke, 2024. "Earn More Tomorrow: Overconfidence, Income Expectations, and Consumer Indebtedness," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue Early Vie, pages 1-32.
    18. Brick, Kerri & De Martino, Samantha & Visser, Martine, 2023. "Behavioural nudges for water conservation in unequal settings: Experimental evidence from Cape Town," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Barbara Buljat, 2022. "Immersive Technologies Affecting Psychological Factors that Lead to Voluntary Pro-Environmental Behavior: A Transdisciplinary Survey," GREDEG Working Papers 2022-15, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    20. Kasper, Matthias & Rablen, Matthew D., 2023. "Tax compliance after an audit: Higher or lower?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 207(C), pages 157-171.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:233:y:2025:i:c:s0921800925000461. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.